Let someone else have a chance.”īut my mom saved the first story I made up, and here it is: I only remember one of those stories I made up, but I do remember her saying, “Phyllis, you’ve had enough turns for one day. She said she would write it down so we could take it home and show it to our parents. In kindergarten, there was a wonderful teacher who sat down in the middle of the floor each afternoon and invited us to come to her and make up a story. I guess I was making up stories, not from the time I was born, but certainly as far back as I can remember. It was still there, the last time I visited. Selected prompts will be published next month.įor more information, go to was born in Anderson, Indiana, in a tiny house on Chestnut Street that my dad and my grandfather helped build. Submit your Fun With Words response to by the 20th of the month and receive an MWA Fun With Words Submission Certificate. If you are unsure of how to write this, go to to read a sample response. In your 100 words, weave together the name and age of your character, their school, their team or club, and the problem they will face. Themes in YA stories often focus on the challenges of youth, so much so that the entire age category is sometimes referred to as problem novels or coming of age novel.Ī partial reading list includes: 'Shiloh' series 'Alice' series, 'Roxie and the Hooligans'įun With Words - Maryland Writers’ Association (MWA) invites you to have fun writing part of a Young Adult story using only 100 words. The vast majority of YA stories portray an adolescent as the protagonist who usually is the same age and has the same problems and experiences as the intended reader. Genre - Young Adult (YA): Fiction written for young readers (ages 12 to 18). She works very hard to make sure the characters in her novels are about the same age as the imagined reader, have the same problems, etc. Naylor's writings show great diversity, ranging from books about her own life, to fiction exploring contemporary problems facing young people. Naylor has published 145 published books a dozen picture books, a half dozen for adults, and the rest evenly divided between middle grade and YA. In writing about young adults, Naylor has been able to create believable, appealing characters and to write from a young person's point of view.

She started writing when a kindergarten teacher invited students to make up a story while the teacher wrote it down. Naylor was born in a tiny house in Indiana that her dad and grandfather helped build. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, writes for all ages, but is best known for her young adult books, 'Shiloh,' which won the Newbery Medal in 1992, and the 'Alice' series.

Naylor phyllis reynolds